Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow love.Where there is injury, pardon.Where there is doubt, faith.Where there is despair, hope.Where there is darkness, light.Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;to be understood, as to understand;to be loved, as to love.For it is in giving that we receive.It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

This week Charlie Rangel (D-NY) sent the following letter to members of the House:

If there were a Universal National Service Act, there would be no shortage of troops to fill the ranks without repeatedly deploying the same exhausted troops over and over.

I urge you to support my legislation for the Universal National Service Act as a co-sponsor.

• Requires all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 25 if called upon by the President during a declaration of war, a national emergency or a military contingency operation to perform national service for a minimum of two years with few exceptions.

• Cuts down the number of deployments for active duty and reserve military units who now see multiple deployments during the course of their enlistment due to troop strength shortages.

• Provides a National service to work education, health care, ports, security and other services as deemed necessary by the President.

• Benefits us ALL as Americans by helping ensure the United States is ready to protect and respond to our nation’s needs at home and abroad at times of peace, national emergency or war if necessary.

The question of whether we need a Universal National Service Act will be important as long as this country is placing thousands of its young men and women in harm’s way. We make decisions about war without worry over who fights them. Those who do the fighting have no choice; when the flag goes up, they salute and follow orders.

There are many strange and wonderful things, but nothing more strangely wonderful than man. He moves across the white-capped ocean seas 390 blasted by winter storms, carving his way under the surging waves engulfing him. With his teams of horses he wears down the unwearied and immortal earth, the oldest of the gods, harassing her, as year by year his ploughs move back and forth. <340>

He snares the light-winged flocks of birds, herds of wild beasts, creatures from deep seas, trapped in the fine mesh of his hunting nets. O resourceful man, whose skill can overcome 400 ferocious beasts roaming mountain heights. <350> He curbs the rough-haired horses with his bit and tames the inexhaustible mountain bulls, setting their savage necks beneath his yoke.

He’s taught himself speech and wind-swift thought, trained his feelings for communal civic life, learning to escape the icy shafts of frost, volleys of pelting rain in winter storms, the harsh life lived under the open sky. That’s man—so resourceful in all he does. 410 <360> There’s no event his skill cannot confront— other than death—that alone he cannot shun, although for many baffling sicknesses he has discovered his own remedies.

The qualities of his inventive skills bring arts beyond his dreams and lead him on, sometimes to evil and sometimes to good.

If he treats his country’s laws with due respect and honours justice by swearing on the gods, he wins high honours in his city. 420

But when he grows bold and turns to evil, <370> then he has no city. A man like that— let him not share my home or know my mind.

He's had 3 weeks to come out and take a clear stand in favor of the unions who are getting screwed by the "budget repair" bill in Wisconsin. 3 weeks to make a speech saying he will not stand by and watch the poor and the middle class be broken while the rich and the corporations walk off with all the money. He's had 3 weeks to come out and say that collective bargaining is a right that workers are entitled to and should not be written away by a Republican majority.

And he's had three weeks to come out in support of the 14 senators, including my state Senator Mark Miller, who are acting like REAL DEMOCRATS and standing up to injustice. If he doesn't do that now, then he has lost all credibility as a democrat as far as I am concerned and he is nothing more than the lesser of two evils. If I ever vote for this man again I will be holding my nose the whole time.

Listen to these remarks from leaders of the new Republican majority in Wisconsin...

Senate Majority Leader-elect Scott Fitzgerald (left) said lawmakers are actively discussing making Wisconsin a right-to-work state, the latest escalation in the looming battle between Republicans and unions in the next session.

Appearing at a WisPolitics luncheon on Wednesday, Fitzgerald said he attended the American Legislative Exchange Council meeting and was "surprised how much momentum there was in an around that discussion. Nothing like I've ever seen before." Fitzgerald said he's had discussions with Sen.-elect Frank Lasee about "some of the major changes that need to happen in and around labor. And certainly right-to-work is one of those topics that's always right there."

Fitzgerald said this is the environment, with a new GOP guv and legislative majorities, in which those changes could happen. "We have new majorities. We've talked to new members of the House of Representatives and the way they view the world right now is the more feathers you ruffle right now, the stronger you're going to be politically. I don't ever remember an environment where that existed before," he said. "I think it gives us a lot of leeway ... to make some significant changes."

Fitzgerald also said Gov.-elect Scott Walker's comments about decertifying state unions reflect discussions among GOP guvs across the nation.

"When you've got governors like Chris Christie (in New Jersey) and Mitch Daniels (in Indiana) and Bobby Jindal (in Louisiana) and some of these Republican governors who are saying 'Listen we have to make some serious changes to get our state back on track,' I think most of the statements I've heard from Scott Walker fit in that category," Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said during the luncheon at the Madison Club.

"I don't think anything's off the table right now, and I think that's appropriate with where we're at and what the state's financial condition is."

Assembly Speaker-elect Jeff Fitzgerald, Scott's brother, said with the state's dire fiscal condition "everybody's going to have to pitch in this go-round." The Horicon Republican said there is a concern among business people around the state of the income and benefits gap between private and public employees.

"Quite frankly, the political climate that's out there right now you won't see us raising taxes to solve the state budget," Jeff Fitzgerald said. "So there's going to have to be a cut to spending. ... That's what people are looking for, they're looking to rein in government, rein in spending."

In a meeting with reporters Wednesday morning, new Assembly Dem leader Peter Barca called Walker's comments on state employee unions a "bombshell," particularly since they didn't come up during the lengthy campaign for governor. "Is this part of a general theme to go against the long tradition we've had in Wisconsin of respecting workers and the right of workers to organize?" Barca asked, adding that he hopes Walker doesn't follow Mississippi Gov. Hayley Barbour in pursuing a "right to work" state.

"I had just been very hopeful we could start this session with a real spirit of bipartisanship in accomplishing what I thought was his primary goal, which is to add 250,000 jobs in the state," the Kenosha Dem said. "That should clearly be everybody's No. 1 priority."

In January, Sudan, the largest country in Africa and one of the continent's most troubled, will most likely split in two as Southern Sudanese vote for independence. At the same time, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, chairman of the African Affairs Subcommittee and one of the most important champions for peace in Sudan, will leave the U.S. Senate. His leadership will be sorely missed at a precarious moment in Sudan's history.

In 2005, a historic peace agreement ended more than 20 years of civil war between North and South Sudan. The conflict caused an estimated 2 million deaths, most of which were in the South. As part of the agreement that ended the war, Southerners were given the right to vote on whether or not to secede from Sudan and form a new country. That vote is scheduled for Jan. 9.

There is fear that fighting could reignite if critical aspects of the agreement are not implemented. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called Sudan a "ticking time bomb," and the former director of National Intelligence told Congress this year that Southern Sudan is the place in the world most likely to experience genocide and mass atrocities.

Feingold has long pushed presidents of both parties to enhance their engagement on issues of peace and human rights in Africa. He has known about the risks of violence in Sudan for a long time and repeatedly pressed the Bush and Obama Administrations to take them seriously. Over the past few months, after more than a year in office, the Obama administration finally began acting on Feingold's advice. In September, a high-level diplomat was appointed to lead negotiations between the rival parties, and President Barack Obama participated in an important meeting of heads of state at the United Nations. While there is much work left to be done, Feingold has helped ensure that U.S. policy prioritizes the protection of civilians and promotion of peace in Southern Sudan.

About 3 years ago I lost a button on a nice short winter coat. Something I hadn't worn much, that cost maybe $200. There were no extra buttons that came with it. I stopped wearing the coat until I could replace the button.

I cut another button off so I could take it for comparison to the only fabric store left around and found that there were a relatively small selection of buttons. Small compared to what I remembered when I used to sew my own clothes many years ago and there were aisles and aisle full of buttons.

I stopped in another fabric store about 6 months later and found that they also had a relatively small selection of buttons...nothing like the one I lost.

I let the coat sit in the closet for a couple of years. A few weeks ago I brought the coat to the first fabric store and hoped I would find a functional button of the right size that wouldn't clash. But I didn't. I bought some thread and a needles. I told the clerk my story. She said, "Well, nowadays most people would probably just buy a new coat".

Lose a button, buy a new coat? People don't replace buttons any more? In this economy?

So I went to Walmart and found some buttons that are the right size and am sewing them on now. At least the Chinese are still making replacement buttons...

So what went wrong this year? Is it the party's fault? Is it the chairman's fault?

I haven't filled out the survey that they emailed to me yet but I've been thinking about it. I let my membership lapse a couple of years ago and rejoined in October. I have to say that I was pretty pleased with what I saw from the coordinated campaign during the last couple of months. Well run. Lots of volunteers and people doing their jobs. I did get a sense here in Madison that most of the volunteers were there out of heartfelt support for Senator Feingold even though we were working for the whole Democratic ticket.

But the DPW lost my heart at Barbara Lawton. For years she was my Governor in waiting. Smart, independent, progressive, female, and a Democrat. There is no reason she shouldn't have been given an opportunity to run in the primary for a chance to be our candidate for Governor. If our own party wouldn't allow her to do that, what does that say to women? We lost the seat anyway. And we also lost any claim we have to being the party that cares more about the equality of women. (Nobody cares about that anymore, right?)

Of course Barbara didn't say that, she said she withdrew for "very personal reasons". But that just shows how women at the highest levels still have to cover.

The Obama For America campaign was worse. I worked for them briefly in 2008, under conditions no union would ever tolerate, like 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, for miserable pay. They treated their staff like crap in the name of winning an election. Democrats in favor of working people?

If the Democratic party can't practice what it preaches in running campaigns, which is where people are most likely to get involved, why should anyone want to be part of it?

It was my good luck to come into one of his campaign offices to volunteer just as he was leaving, so I got a warm handshake and a hug - from a person I respect more than anyone else I can think of.

I know a lot of people at DU are worried about this race, but let me tell you- the campaign is being run very well. Wisconsin Democrats have a solid plan for getting out the vote, and our opponents do not. In past years the GOP in Wisconsin has tended to rely on wedge issues to draw their voters out, and there are none on the ballot this year. (Well, there is a medical marijuana referendum, but it doesn't seem to have gotten much publicity. And if you forget to turn the ballot over, you'll miss it altogether.)

I'm not sure how long you have to be meat free to call yourself a vegetarian... its been over a month since I ate any meat. I have eliminated it from my diet. Its healthier and its ecologically sensible. There is no downside. Its been something I wanted to do for years but never acted on it.

Seeing the pictures of animals suffering a result of the oil spill made me feel helpless... giving up meat gives me a sense that I am sparing some animal lives.

Last month, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of South Carolina said that when the government helps the poor, it's like people feeding stray animals that continually "breed." And just last week, Colorado state legislator Spencer Swalm said poor people in single-family homes are "dysfunctional." Both statements riled some Americans from the Piedmont to the Rockies and underscored a widely held belief: In tough times, people are tough on the poor.

In an April 2009 poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington, 72 percent agreed with the statement that "poor people have become too dependent on government assistance programs." That's up from 69 percent in 2007.

"The economic downturn has made the middle class less generous toward others," said Guy Molyneux, a partner at Hart Research Associates, a Washington firm that researches attitudes toward the poor. "People are less supportive of the government helping the poor, because they feel they're not getting enough help themselves. "It's a divided country, splitting on a fault line: those who think the poor are poor because they don't try enough, and those who think the poor simply need help."

Matt Wray, a sociologist at Temple University, agreed: "Hatred of the poor is fueled by the middle class's fear of falling during hard times." Americans don't understand how the poor are victimized by a lack of jobs, inefficient schools, and unsafe neighborhoods, experts say. "People ignore the structural issues - jobs leaving, industry becoming more mechanized," said Yale sociologist Elijah Anderson, renowned for his study of the Philadelphia poor. "Then they point to the poor and ask, 'Why aren't you making it?' "

LAST MONTH, A WEEK before the Senate seat of the liberal icon Edward M. Kennedy fell into Republican hands, his legacy suffered another blow that was perhaps just as damaging, if less noticed. It happened during what has become an annual spectacle in the culture wars.

Over two days, more than a hundred people — Christians, Jews, housewives, naval officers, professors; people outfitted in everything from business suits to military fatigues to turbans to baseball caps — streamed through the halls of the William B. Travis Building in Austin, Tex., waiting for a chance to stand before the semicircle of 15 high-backed chairs whose occupants made up the Texas State Board of Education. Each petitioner had three minutes to say his or her piece.

“Please keep César Chávez” was the message of an elderly Hispanic man with a floppy gray mustache.

“Sikhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world and should be included in the curriculum,” a woman declared.

Following the appeals from the public, the members of what is the most influential state board of education in the country, and one of the most politically conservative, submitted their own proposed changes to the new social-studies curriculum guidelines, whose adoption was the subject of all the attention — guidelines that will affect students around the country, from kindergarten to 12th grade, for the next 10 years. Gail Lowe — who publishes a twice-a-week newspaper when she is not grappling with divisive education issues — is the official chairwoman, but the meeting was dominated by another member. Don McLeroy, a small, vigorous man with a shiny pate and bristling mustache, proposed amendment after amendment on social issues to the document that teams of professional educators had drawn up over 12 months, in what would have to be described as a single-handed display of archconservative political strong-arming.

"The public expects – and deserves – judges who bring independence, integrity and broad legal experience to the bench. Throughout my career as a law clerk to a federal appeals court judge, a federal prosecutor, a civil trial attorney, and for nearly ten years as Dane County District Attorney I have focused on applying the law without fear or favor. I pledge to you to bring the same commitment to fairness and justice to the Appeals Court bench.

To help restore citizen’s confidence in an impartial judiciary, I am refusing special interest money and voluntarily limiting individual campaign contributions. I am the only candidate in the race to make this pledge. You need to know that judges are independent decision makers and justice is not for sale."

Edited to add: The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals drew three candidates. A primary is necessary to shrink the number of candidates from three to two for the April 6 general election. Incumbent Charles Dykman isn’t seeking re-election after 31 years on the bench. Seeking to replace Dykman are Brian Blanchard of Madison, Ramona Gonzalez of La Crosse and Edward Leineweber of Lone Rock. The winner serves a six-year term. The Fourth District covers 24 counties in southern and western Wisconsin.

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